Updated 10:00 pm, Sunday, July 22, 2007

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(Editor's note: This story has been changed since it was originally published. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services declined earlier this month to expand the list of groups that could buy birth control at a discount from drug companies. The earlier version misstated the timing of that decision.)

College students may have to pay more for birth control -- in some cases doubling or nearly tripling their previous costs -- at campus pharmacies when they return to school this fall.

The price increase is the result in a change in federal regulations that no longer allows campus health centers to buy contraceptives at a reduced cost from pharmaceutical companies.

Instead of paying about $15 a month for oral contraceptives, students now face prices of more than $40 in some cases. That could particularly cause a financial strain on students who lack health insurance or who bought birth control out-of-pocket, not wanting to use their parents' health plan.

Rachel Arnold, a 25-year-old married graduate student at the University of Washington, was hit with the higher prices for birth control earlier this year. Instead of paying $16 a month, she now has to go through health insurance and fork over a $25 co-pay. If she didn't have insurance, it would cost even more.

"It just adds up, you know?" she said.

Some campus pharmacies, such as the UW's Hall Health Primary Care Clinic, stocked up on birth control when they could still buy it at the reduced price. But they are now running out of the discounted product.

At one point, the UW offered 14 different oral contraceptives at a reduced cost, pharmacy director John Medina said. Now the pharmacy is down to one, and Medina expects to run out of that supply within a month.

In recent months, he saw a few students switch medications for price alone, buying discounted birth control that was still in supply.

"They were chasing price," Medina said.

College students may be strapped for cash, having to pay for the costs of their education and living expenses. Some, especially older graduate students, may already be married and supporting children as well.

Pharmaceutical companies offered name-brand contraceptives to student health centers at a discount to introduce college consumers to their products. The health centers typically passed on the low cost to students.

But a change in the Deficit Reduction Action of 2005 to close a loophole limited the types of entities that could receive drugs at a discount.

The association had lobbied to qualify student health center pharmacies for the low-cost birth control, but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services declined earlier this month to expand the list of eligible entities.

In the meantime, students may have fewer options for contraceptives or have to switch to a generic version. They also may be priced out of new innovations in birth control, such as the NuvaRing, which eliminates the need to take a pill daily.

Thirty-eight percent of college students use birth control pills to prevent pregnancy, according to a 2006 spring survey by the health association.

UW student Arnold said she's looking at switching to a generic pill that would cost less than her current form of birth control.

"It was a bad decision," she said of the ruling not to allow campus health centers to receive low-cost drugs.

Some college health officials worry that cash-strapped students may forgo birth control to pay for other necessities such as food. That could lead to more students taking emergency contraceptive or having unplanned pregnancies or abortions, LaSalle said.

"Our interest is preventing all of that by trying to make low-cost options available."